Y Combinator, one of the leading Silicon Valley seed accelerators, has released a free, 10-week long MOOC called ‘Startup School’, intended for entrepreneurs who are actively pursuing to start their own company.
Main goals of the initiative are to “encourage and inspire people to consider starting a company as a way to positively impact the world; teach people about how to start a startup, and equip them with the resources and tools to help prepare them now and in the future; and build a community of entrepreneurs who can encourage and teach each other.”
- Lectures are taught by top entrepreneurs and industry leaders. The videos are part of a series of guest lectures at Stanford University.
- There are no exams, and the only requirement to pass the class is to submit your weekly company updates and attend your group office hours. There is a minimum commitment of 3 hours a week: one hour of lecture, one hour of class office hours and one hour of group office hours. For spectators it’s two hours per week (lectures and class office hours).
Week 1: How and Why to Start A Startup
By Sam Altman (YC), Dustin Moskovitz (Asana)
Week 1: Startup Mechanics
By Kirsty Nathoo (YC)
Week 2: How to Get Ideas and How to Measure
By Stewart Butterfield (Slack) and Adam D’Angelo (Quora)
Week 2: Office hours with Yuri Sagalov (Amium)
Week 3: How to Build a Great Product I
By Emmett Shear (Twitch) Steve Huffman (Reddit), Michael Seibel (YC)
Week 3: How to Build a Great Product II
By Aaron Levie (Box)
Week 4: How to Build a Great Product III
By Tracy Young (PlanGrid), Jason Lemkin (SaaStr), Harry Zhang (Lob), Solomon Hykes (Docker)
Week 4: How to Build a Great Product IV
By Jan Koum (WhatsApp)
Week 5: How to Get Users and Grow
By Alex Schultz (Facebook)
Week 5: Office hours with Adora Cheung (YC)
Week 6: How to Invent the Future I
By Alan Kay
Week 6: How to Invent the Future II
By Alan Kay
Week 7: How to Execute
By Anne Wojcicki (23andMe)
Week 7: TBD
Week 8: How to Build a Good Culture
By Dalton Caldwell (YC), Patrick Collison (Stripe)
Week 8: Diversity + Inclusion at Early Stage Startups
By Kat Manalac (YC)
Week 9: How to Build and Manage Teams
By Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures)
Week 9: Office hours with Kevin Hale
Week 10: How to Raise Money, and How to Succeed Long-Term
By Ali Rowghani (YC) Jess Lee (Sequoia), Aaron Harris (YC)
Week 10: Closing thoughts
By Ron Conway (SV Angel)
